Updated: TWO North Yorkshire councils are set to stump up an extra £840,000 between them to ensure vital upgrades to one of the region’s busiest roads can go ahead.

Design changes to improvement proposals for the Brambling Fields junction on the A64 near Malton and Norton have led to the bill for the scheme rising at the same time as Government funding for such schemes has fallen.

The lack of a route allowing eastbound traffic to leave the road at the junction has been marked out as a major congestion issue in the area, with the intention being to provide a new slip road and other traffic management measures in nearby town centres.

The work would be paid for by Ryedale District Council and North Yorkshire County Council, and both authorities are now expected to approve providing £420,000 each to cater for the additional costs.

“Following this council’s commitment in 2009 to jointly fund the Brambling Fields junction upgrade, there has been a detailed design process taking place,” said a report by Ryedale District Council’s head of economy and housing, Julian Rudd, which will go before the authority’s policy and resources committee this week. “This has required changes to the original scheme design in order to achieve the necessary level of safety.

“The financial impact of these design changes, together with ecological mitigation costs, is a projected increase of £840,000 in scheme costs. These costs must be borne by the two authorities if the project is to proceed.

“However, it is anticipated they can be recouped over a period of years through the collection of developer contributions.”

The committee is expected to recommend to a meeting of the full council that the extra cash is provided, while a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive this week will also highlight the need for the added investment at Brambling Fields.

The executive will also be told that, following a £4.54 million reduction in its Regional Funding Allocation from the Government earlier this year, five schemes in Harrogate are being removed from its integrated transport capital programme for 2010/11.

Six other projects will see their allocations sliced and one will be given an increase.